SWEET MUSIC
by GoldAngel2
Summary: Saya reflects on her past battles at the beach as Haji and the sound of the waves are a balm to her anguished soul... Haji and Saya fluff


_Author's Note: Here's another one shot, from Saya's POV that could fit between episode 47 and the final arc of Diva's concert at the Met. It's my attempt to get into her thoughts following the battle with James and I thought Haji could take her to the beach for a short reprieve before the final battle. Sadly I do not own Blood , it is the property of Sony Entertainment._

**SWEET MUSIC**

After being out for a while following my most recent encounter with the chiropteran form of Diva's chevalier James, I wake up and find myself suspended as clouds and scenery fly by me…I come to some consciousness and find I am in the arms of my dear friend and chevalier Haji as we are gliding along. I then see that we are near the water, waves lapping at the golden sand of the shoreline.

"Where are we, Haji?" I ask, still a bit disoriented as we whisk through the air.

"See for yourself," is his typical cryptic reply.

I look around and notice that Haji has taken me to the beach... one of my favorite places. Cradled in his strong arms, he delicately lowers me onto a natural seawall that juts out into the ocean…and as I stand there glancing about, Haji takes his cello case off of his shoulder and sits on a rock…

Our last battle was fierce…more so than usual and I am weary so Haji, always so thoughtful of my needs, took me to the seashore…my sanctuary place, where I can be restored and once again find my true self…the human side of me that I refuse to give up…and he even brought me here at my favorite time of the day…at the end when the sun sinks into the waves as it makes its golden descent in a gilded signature.

I love sunsets…

When Dad was alive, he took us, me, Riku, and Kai to the beach often and we'd spend the day enjoying the sand and playing in the surf until the sun would dip into the waves, signifying the day's end. He brought us all here when I first awoke from my latest 30 year long hibernation and I was really out of it. The boys, Kai and Riku were uneasy around me and Dad thought a family outing would forge a bond between us…so it was late afternoon when we piled into the minivan and came here...

_**I remember that it was a tense situation…Kai was so surly and suspicious, keeping his distance, sullen as he went along to please Dad but Riku, had a gentle and warm manner that calmed me even as I acted like a small child. In that same state I had caused him distress as he tried to share with me his favorite book. Not knowing any better, I destroyed his treasured book, tearing the pages from its binding. He was so angry, he locked himself in the van when we got to the beach. But Dad, as usual patched our quarrel up and us together when he boiled some rice and using the rice, repaired the torn book, teaching us a life lesson in the process. But that was George Miyagusku, who we knew as Dad, bringing three orphans to his home and making us all a family…his family…**_

_**How I miss him!**_

My heart pounds as I remember Dad's quick wit and easy smile, always cheerful as he would do his best to give the three of us a home…and he succeeded. Me, Kai, and Riku all became as close as if we had been blood born siblings…and it twists in anguish as I remember it was my blood that killed him…my cursed chiropteran blood…

I sigh as I begin to brood about all the losses of late all because of my blood….Dad, whose last word to me was for me to smile…and _nan-kuru-naisa_…"Things will all work out" his catch phrase and favorite saying, encouraging me as his chiropteran transformation was shattering with the contact with my blood, killing him. And knowing that it was because of my blood, it killed me as well…I have never forgotten that…

Irene of the manufactured half beings known as the Schiff, all created from Diva's blood yet seeking to have normal lives of meaning. I tried to help them acquire their dream but when I gave my blood to save Irene…she perished and shattered, her blood blowing away like sand in the wind. Kai, who had befriended her was devastated by that and although he said he didn't blame me, I knew the truth…I saw it in his eyes as he looked at me when we both were at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Then there was Riku…

Tears prick at my eyes as Riku's image pops in my mind and a slide show of past memories of my sweet little brother flash in rapid succession. I remember after school every day sitting at the counter of the _Omoro_ teasing each other and fighting over who got the biggest portions at dinner…our trips to the beach as a family…playing catch with Dad at the park…all those happy times that were so dear to me. Then I remember what happened with Diva at the Zoo and how she lured Riku to her former prison with her siren song…

As painful memories assail me, I hear the strains of a Bach fugue expertly played on the cello, intermixed with the perpetual roar of the ocean. While the haunting notes flow on the salty breeze, my thoughts continued to replay the events leading up to what happened to my beloved little brother…

_**They had come looking for me, Kai and Riku…after what happened in Siberia, I had to return to the place where it all began…where time stood still and where I had unleashed the wrath of Diva, my sister onto an unsuspecting world. So I had Haji take me there, to the Bordeaux countryside…for a bittersweet stroll down Memory Lane…and slowly…I remembered everything. I remembered the day Joel brought a sullen boy with amazing zircon eyes to me, introducing him as my new "friend" Haji. But petted and spoiled like a royal princess I had thought of him as no more than a servant so I treated him with offhanded condescension as I ordered him about until he had reached his limit and rebelled. I also remembered how a warm and intimate friendship developed between us as I taught Haji to play the cello and as he grew into the handsome man he is…until the fateful day of Joel's birthday and I made time stop…for him. Filled with guilt and agony at the past memories, I requested to be alone and Haji, loyal and faithful as my chevalier acquiesced my wish, waiting as I walked off to contend with the maelstrom raging in me. But at that moment, Diva's chevalier Solomon came and confronted me with an affirmation of what I had been remembering…we spoke as he tried to get me to deny my human family and join with her in my true self as a chiropteran queen. However, now reeling from my earlier revelations, I vehemently denied his words, clinging desperately to the last bit of normalcy in my life that as unknown to me at that time was about to slip through my fingers... **_

_**Seeing me in distress, Haji came forth in fury to attack Solomon in his usual protective mode. He and the dashing golden haired man who danced with me at the boarding school in Vietnam began to fight and so I fled, running blindly as my mind teemed with all my revived memories and Solomon's own declaration. Not really paying attention, I headed back toward the burnt out mansion when I heard something that stunned me and then prompted me to race to what was once the Tower… As I had wrestled with the demons of my past, my present…the two brothers I loved with all my heart…had come to the ruined grounds of the Zoo, to find me…and that's when Riku had found the Tower. Thinking that it was me, he had rushed forward and met…Diva. That was the beginning of the end for him…**_

_Oh Riku_ I say silently as the tears well up and escape down my cheeks _if only you and Kai could have been spared being dragged into this horrible battle. If only you had remained in Okinawa and not come after me, you never would have been involved…and Riku, you'd still be alive…_

At those words my anguish fully erupts and a sob escapes my lips…and another when immediately the cello music ends. I then feel the lean yet sinewy arms clad in fine serge encircle me from behind which is Haji lending comfort as only he can…

"Saya…," he murmurs my name, like a caress and his warmth surrounds me like a blanket on a cold winter day. I lean back against him as I allow his ministrations to reach into the gouges in my soul and the pain begins to slowly ebb away.

"Oh Haji," I say and then he turns me around and locks me in the full circle of his embrace, cradling my head in his bandaged hand, the one that he conceals and is the proof of his role as my chiropteran chevalier while his human hand strokes my back…rhythmically…provoking more tears to fall.

But Haji says nothing, not telling me to stop crying or that it'll be fine, just holds me without words allowing the pain in my heart to be purged through the shedding of tears…and I love him for that. So we stand there bathed in the golden rays of sunset, locked in each other's arms with the steady roar of the sea, serenading us…then the tears finally stop.

I pull back and Haji asks softly, "Are you alright now, Saya?"

"Uh-huh." I nod as I turn my head and avert his gentle yet probing gaze. However, he takes hold of my chin and turns my head back so I cannot avoid him.

"Then may I ask why were you crying?"

I look up into the aquamarine orbs that have captivated me since the day Joel first brought him to be my companion and I cannot lie or evade him. "I-I was just thinking about all those who've lost their lives because of me and my blood. Especially Riku."

Haji then cups my face in both his hands as he whispers, "Saya…You mustn't keep blaming yourself for what is. You have no control over that."

"No, that's true," I agree with a sigh but then add bitterly, "But you cannot deny that all that has happened is because of me…and Diva." I am again filled with guilt for my foolish and impulsive action that freed my sister and always intuitive Haji knows this…

His response is to hold me closer and caress me, murmuring, "Saya-koishii."_ When we are alone, he sometimes slips from his role as chevalier and uses terms of endearment, as if we were lovers…this warms me and still locked in the haven of his arms I feel a peace flood me as memories continue to bludgeon me and the most recent tragedy of Solomon comes to mind…_

_**I remember the dance at the school in Vietnam, where I felt out of place among the wealthy girls dressed in designer gowns. I had a borrowed dress from Min, my roommate and feeling self-conscious stood away, isolating myself from the crowd as I wondered where the so-called Phantom had hidden himself. The legend was that a century ago there was a black haired girl the Phantom had fallen in love with and lost to another so his anguished spirit each year left blue roses to a girl at the school who resembled his lost love. He had sent me blue roses, the sign to the other girls that he had "chosen" me…so they envied me as they indulged in their silly and safe adolescent romantic fantasies…however, I knew he was a chiropteran and connected to Diva, so while they daydreamed and speculated about what he saw in me, I was preoccupied with preparing myself for fighting him when HE entered the room…drawing the attention of all the girls there…Solomon Goldsmith was easily the most handsome man there at the dance…appropriately named he had golden unruly curls and bright blue eyes, with a lean figure dressed in a pale cream suit…he was like a beacon of light that parted the crowd as if he were Moses parting the Red Sea. But he ignored all the simpering girls and stopped before me; bowing gallantly as he asked me to dance…I remember while we danced how he held me close and how his eyes caressed me, bringing a warm flush to my cheeks, as I had become attracted to him…**_

_**Then I remember the night he had brought me to his lush Manhattan penthouse after rescuing me at Diva's concert in North Carolina from being killed by her first chevalier Amshel, who had me in a death grip and was trying to break my neck. I had awakened to find myself in an unfamiliar bed, without my clothes when Solomon entered and after telling me there was a dress in the closet, directed me to join him upstairs. So with great wariness I got dressed in the expensive designer gown he provided and joined him…**_

_**I went up to the atrium, expecting Solomon to kill me…after all, he was one of Diva's chevaliers and since she wanted me dead, it was his duty…however, I was shocked when he instead renounced his role as her chevalier and then stunned as he proclaimed to be in love with me, promising to take me around the world which was once my dream…give me my dearest wishes…calling me "his angel" and proposing to me on the wind-swept rooftop terrace. But still distrustful I rejected his advances and evaded him while I tried to fathom exactly what Solomon was really up to and I jumped up to the ledge to avoid him. Then I became woozy and toppled into his arms as I felt the drowsiness of my approaching sleep… **_

_**Then Haji arrived on the scene…confronted Solomon and fought him…two chevaliers and rivals for my affections…**_

At this memory, I pull away from Haji's chest and look up into his half-lidded faraway eyes…he's so much taller than me…and I recall that the dream to travel and see the world was to be with Haji by my side…not Solomon. And I then remember how Solomon finally met his demise…

_**James, Diva's most loyal chevalier had come to our New York apartment…to kill me. He had revived from his alleged death on Cristina Island and burst through to attack me, drawing Haji into battle. He transformed to his true chiropteran form and vanquished Haji then was determined to kill me with my own blood seeking to impale me on my sword…until Solomon intervened and protected me. He withstood a gash James had imparted and managed to hold him off, slashing at James' armor-like skin and causing enough of a puncture to penetrate and kill him. After which he then declared himself my chevalier and vowed to protect me always, promising to come at my call. However, it would never be as Solomon had paid for his decision to leave Diva...because although he decided to leave her and serve me, his blood bond was with her still…which meant that my blood would be death to him…and sadly, it was...**_

Shaking me from my reverie Haji urges me, "Tell me what's wrong."

I bite my lip as I reply, "I was just…remembering."

"What?"

I sigh as I pull away and continue, "All the battles we fought." I turn away, clutching my shoulders and add, "So many lives changed…and lost… because of me." I turn back and gaze at him in sorrow as I say, "I even made time stop for you." It's true, the only change in him though the years is his style of clothing, similar to what he had worn at the Zoo but slightly more modern.

He again locks me in the harbor of his embrace as he says, "As I told you before, I never once regretted becoming your chevalier. You are my reason for being and I will always be by your side." He tightens his hold and adds, "…for all eternity."

In response I pull back to smile then reach up and lay my hand reverently on Haji's cheek. "Oh, Haji."

He then gifts me with one of his own rare smiles and I am drawn to him as I stand on tiptoe to meet his mouth with mine…we kiss, and like all our kisses his mouth takes me gently at first…then becomes more insistent as the kiss deepens. I open my mouth and moan softly as Haji accepts my invitation and suckles me like I was an éclair, while one hand cups my face and the other encircles my waist, making me his captive…his eyes closed with an expression of rapture is what I see as I peek at him through lowered lashes. At the same time, I am savoring the flood of warmth rushing through me as I languish in his strength, feeling as if I were being swept away by a torrent, helpless…yet in complete surrender…

When we finally pull apart, I notice that the sun has dipped below the horizon and night is falling, dusting the sky with tiny stars. Haji then scoops me up into his arms and speaks his concern…

"You should get some rest, Saya. Our next battle is coming soon."

"I know," I admit with resignation as he takes me over to the flat rock where he had been sitting. He lays me there tenderly and then doffs his jacket to roll up and place beneath my head as a pillow. I obey as he then gently brushes my hair from my eyes.

"Now rest Saya, and I'll play for you."

I sigh and close my eyes while Haji takes a seat beside me, picking up his cello. He then begins to play Bach as he always did for the century we have been together and I feel a lightness that indicates I am falling asleep…

And as repose claims me, I hear the melding of the soft sea roar with the strains of the cello, making sweet music to lull me into much needed rest.

**END**


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